Private school to ditch GCSEs, write own exams

[noblegiraffe]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/gcses-private-schools-london-qualification-latymer-school-b1106686.html

Not entirely sure what to make of this. Latymer Upper (I'm not really up on private schools so don't know how fancy it is) is planning to ditch GCSEs and create its own assessments to 'free up teaching time'.

I guess if it's a super-selective type school they'd be expecting all the kids to go onto A-levels anyway so aren't worried about losing GCSEs, but what of kids who want to go elsewhere? How recognised would their portfolio be?

Also, we know from covid just how good some private schools are at marking their own homework so how would anyone know if standards were being maintained?

I'm surprised that a school has enough staffing capacity to set up its own exam system tbh.

I don’t think they would be recognisable or portable, which means you would be keeping your child there for a level (and how could decide that at 11). Also what happens if you finances change and you want to move to any other school (including state) who usually have greater requirements that maths and English gcse? What happens (and I am sure the school does this) when your child says they can’t stay for A-Level?

I would also be worried about university and even job applications, a lot of which are very “standard” and won’t cope with lack of GCSEs.

I wonder if they have a lot of foreign students or students going to uni abroad so GCSEs are not so important.

Teddies (St Edwards) in Oxford did something similar but dropped it when they had a change of head. Sevenoaks also had a school certificate of some kind but a new head has bought in igcses/ GCSEs for all subjects.
The problem is if UCAS won't acknowledge the school based certificate then it makes uni applications uncertain and parents nervous.

I thought universities required maths and English GCSEs these days as well as Alevels for entry... how will that work?

Wouldn't be a risk I'd be taking with my kids after paying all that money for education!

That's interesting that other schools have tried and ditched it, I wonder why? And I wonder why, knowing that, this school is still deciding to go for it!

It says in the article that they'll still do maths and English so they're not completely mad.

Ampleforth did this with English Lit years ago, universities accepted it.

It sounds like it could be a good thing, if it's thought through properly.

I've long thought far too much time was wasted redoing coursework endlessly and now doing lots of mock exams. GCSE is a 2 year course and yet more often than not there's a push to rush through content to be 'finished' by Christmas of year 11 for the mock exams. Inevitably the 'revision' that follows is more re-teaching than revision.

It could be a train wreck though if not we'll considered.

I bet they'll get great results.

It's a tricky sell to parents esp if the dc wants to go into medicine.

More time to prep A level will get better result for sure. LU want to do this for quite a while.

English Literature A level? In which case, okay, so that's good to know, because Eng Lit A level is a thing that universities tend to require for degrees in English Literature.

GCSE? Not so exciting that universities accept it, given that it's a pass in English Language and Maths that they are normally interested in as part of their general entry requirements. It's GCSEs that LU is intending to dispense with - except English Language and Maths, so, as @noblegiraffe says, the school isn't completely crazy.

I wouldn’t be happy if my children’s school did this. There would be no national benchmark to compare their performance against.

Not sure how to benchmark against even now, it is a highly selective private school anyway.

Teddies calls their courses "pathways and perspectives" and they do seem to still offer a few, I don't have time / interest to read the booklet on their website but I can't see that the qualification is endorsed by UCAS.
The school website is stedwardsoxford.org

Sounds mindbogglingly arrogant to me tbh.

Apparently Bedales have done the same, but not all universities will accept it.

(Not checked this btw, but was in a comment on the same article in the Times.)

Not sure I'd be happy as a parent. Even the most academically able kids sometimes want to do something a bit different at 16 and this potentially narrows options if they'd be left with no recognisable qualifications bar English & Maths.

@ErrolTheDragon ”mindboggingly arrogant” kinda sums up private schools 🤷‍♀️

I feel like, given the tendency to contextualize state/private applications somewhat that are seeing these days, anything that screams “I went to private school” may be unhelpful?

Contextualize offer is not about students from state vs private school, it is a common myth.

https://www.ucas.com/advisers/guides-resources-and-training/tools-and-resources-help-you/contextualised-admissions-how-it-works-practice

They've been thinking about it for ages- it's been mentioned on here before.
Others will probably follow. DDs school has mentioned they are looking at something similar.
LU have spent several years consulting with universities, employers etc so I'm sure they've thought it through! It's also a few years until it's implemented.
They'll still be doing A levels and therefore will have predicted grades etc for UCAS.

Do they lose a lot of pupils after year 11? Being cynical, it might be a good way to make it harder for kids to leave for other sixth forms!

Not many- more join than leave.

Well indeed. I had to google the school, I suspect these London private schools exist in a little bubble where they think everyone has heard of them and knows how very very important they are.

Bedales already does this. They just do English and Maths GCSE. I think more and more schools will do this to be honest. The exams at 18 model seems to fit a lot more kids.

They’re doing this because GCSEs are shit and don’t stretch pupils enough. They’ll also be providing children with a portfolio of work - I imagine this could make them more attractive to universities as they will have evidence of their skills in their chosen fields.

@noblegiraffe - bit harsh- you posted the story on here, not the school! The Standard has just picked up the story from The Times, who will have contacted the school, not the other way round.